Emirates Airline has revealed a major expansion of its route network during Winter 2012/2013 with the addition of three additional destinations and a growth of capacity on many of its trunk routes, driven by the arrival of additional Airbus A380s of which the carrier is the largest global operator. Alongside the 12 routes it has already announced for growth, the Dubai-based venture will introduce flights over the next six months to the Australian city of Adelaide, the French regional city of Lyon and the Polish capital Warsaw.
The first additional destination will be Adelaide with a four times weekly connection due to commence on November 1, 2012. This will be the airline’s fifth destination in Australia which is already served with 70 flights per week. According to Emirates the route, which will be served with a three-class Boeing 777-300ER, will be boosted to a daily schedule from February 1, 2013. Additional growth will also take place at Perth with the double daily connection increasing to 19 flights a week from December 1, 2012 and to a triple daily from March 1, 2013.
“The addition of Adelaide to our network and the boost to our Perth operations demonstrates our commitment to investment and growth in our Australian operations and highlights the economic strength and global demand for the two cities as business, leisure and investment destinations,” said His Highness (HH) Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline & Group. “We will also grow capacity to Melbourne with the introduction of daily A380 services in October, in addition to our existing double-decker flight into Sydney.”
In a further expansion of its reach in Europe, Emirates will add a five times weekly link between its Dubai International Airport hub and Lyon from December 5, 2012, its third point in the French market after Paris and Nice. As a vibrant economic and tourism centre of south eastern France, Emirates expects to generate a good mix of business and leisure traffic on the route and onward to destinations across Asia and Australasia. It will use a three-class Airbus A340-500 on the route. The airline will follow this with its debut in Poland as it commences a daily three-class A330-200 service to Warsaw Chopin from February 6, 2013 as it looks to take advantage of a growing economy - the World Bank recently predicted Poland would record the highest economic growth in the Central and Eastern European region.
“Our increased operations into France, linking with Lyon, comes on the heels of our announcing a second A380 service into Paris from 1st January – all of which a response to acute demand for our services to and from this market. Poland continues our exciting push into this region of Europe,” HH Sheikh Ahmed added.
The route announcements follow just a week after Emirates announced a major expansion of its network in Iraq. The airline will launch flights to Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan from August 12, 2012, its third Iraqi destination after Baghdad and Basra. The new service from Emirates’ hub in Dubai will initially operate four times a week, increasing to a daily service from September 1, 2012. And will be operated using an A340-300, offering 267 seats in a three-class configuration and more than 13 tonnes of cargo capacity.
“Since we first launched flights into Iraq we have seen demand for our services there increase tenfold,” said HH Sheikh Ahmed. “Emirates has been offering a well utilised cargo service to Erbil since February 2011 and we are confident that our new passenger service will be filled in both directions. A resource rich country, Iraq offers great potential for growth and we look forward to the launch of our third destination there this August.”
Known to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, Erbil has a population of approximately five million people and is the fourth largest city in Iraq. The Iraqi Kurdistan region has the sixth largest oil reserve globally with many of the world’s large oil multinationals availing of offices there. The region is booming with new, large-scale construction projects including a 1.6 billion US-dollar media centre considered to be one of the principal projects currently in development.
“We have been facilitating international trade between Erbil and destinations across our network for some time, so we already have a deep understanding of the market and its potential for strong revenue. The launch of Erbil will be our third in Iraq within 18 months, testament not only to the country’s potential but also to our own ability to swiftly enter previously underserved markets, opening them up to our global network of 123 destinations,” added HH Sheikh Ahmed
Emirates currently operates a daily flight to Baghdad and four weekly flights to Basra but has confirmed it will introduce three additional flights to the Iraqi southern port city, increasing the service to seven flights per week from August 1, 2012. The extra flights will increase existing capacity by 79 per cent per week in both directions, making it easier for both business and leisure travellers in Basra to connect seamlessly with key industry hubs in the US and Europe.
“The decision to introduce these additional flights to Basra highlights the destination’s importance within our growing global network. Since its launch Basra has seen incredibly strong passenger loads, providing an integral link between south of Iraq and the rest of the world through its convenient connections in Dubai,” said Ahmed Khoory, Emirates’ Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Gulf, Middle East and Iran.
Well positioned, close to the oil fields and the Gulf, Basra continues to attract investments from major corporations around the globe. Local authorities in Basra have also started developing plans to attract inbound tourism, highlighting the city’s rich heritage. “For Emirates, Iraq represents an opportunity for us to expand our business. We will continue to invest in Iraq, empowering the local economy and helping it expand its business and tourism presence,” added Ahmed Khoory.
“Emirates is currently in a concentrated and sustained period of global expansion,” highlighted HH Sheikh Ahmed this week. The airline has already launched nine new destinations so far in 2012; Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Dublin, Lusaka, Harare, Dallas, Seattle, Ho Chi Minh City and most recently Barcelona. Next week it will introduce flights to Lisbon, followed by Erbil on August 12, 2012 and Washington DC on September 12, 2012.
But it is not all about network expansion and frequency increases on existing routes, as Emirates takes advantage of the delivery of further A380 Superjumbo aircraft to boost capacity on a number of its key routes. This month Tokyo Narita became the latest destination to be served by the double-decker and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) operator has revealed it will use the type to strategically support its growth on hub-to-hub routes and some of its fastest expanding links.
The A380 made its debut on the daily Dubai – Tokyo Narita route on July 1, 2012, becoming the 19th airport on Emirates’ global network of 123 destinations to be served by the type. Its introduction has marked a 38 per cent increase in capacity, with an additional 135 seats on every flight.
“It is with great pride that we are strengthening our commitment to Japan in the same year as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of operations,” said Richard Jewsbury, Emirates’ Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations Far East & Australasia. “Although travel and trade was severely impacted by the Great East Japan Earthquake, Emirates believed in Japan’s ability to recover quickly and while other operators scaled back services, we kept faith in our growth strategy and increased the frequency of our Narita-Dubai flights. Now, with the addition of our A380, Japan can look forward to trade and tourism being further stimulated between destinations across our network.”
The aviation authorities of Japan and the UAE recently met and agreed on a liberal framework that will permit Emirates to progressively add more services to Japan. “We are very grateful that the Japanese Government has recognised our commitment. We also value the longstanding partnership that we have with Japan Airlines. We have a code share agreement with JAL on both our Osaka and Tokyo services and look forward to building on this,” added Richard Jewsbury.
Emirates currently utilises its A380s on flights to London, Sydney, Auckland, Bangkok, Toronto, Paris, Seoul, Jeddah, Beijing, Manchester, Hong Kong, New York, Shanghai, Munich, Rome and Johannesburg, and will introduce the type on its flights to Amsterdam from August and Melbourne from October. It has now revealed that it will also use the type on one of its daily flights to Moscow Domodedovo from December 1, 2012, becoming the first operator of the type to Russia. The A380 will replace a 777-300ER on the route.
‘Since the launch of flights to Moscow in 2003, the demand for our flights has been continuously growing, and we are now ready to present today’s largest passenger aircraft in the largest country in the world,’ - said Obaidalla Salem, Senior Vice President for Commercial Operations in Europe and Russian Federation, Emirates Airline.
Alongside Moscow, Emirates has also revealed plans to upgrade three of its key routes already served by the A380 by introducing the type on additional rotations. After becoming the first carrier to offer scheduled A380 flights to the US in 2008, Emirates has confirmed it will start using the type on the second of its Dubai – New York JFK services from January 1, 2013, replacing a 777-300ER and offering almost 1,000 additional seats in both directions every week.
“Emirates is experiencing very high demand for its New York flights and the start of twice daily A380 service to JFK will enable us to offer more choice for our customers to benefit from the Emirates A380 experience,” said Thierry Antinori, Executive Vice President of Passenger Sales Worldwide, Emirates Airline. “We have continued to invest in our services by increasing our capacity to build on the resurgent demand for air travel within the United States and we are seeing this strategy pay dividends. Further investment in our hub, with the opening of the world's first dedicated A380 concourse – C3 – will coincide with the second JFK A380 service.”
The French capital, Paris, will also see the introduction of a second A380 service as the type is introduced on the carrier’s EK075/EK076 service from January 1, 2013 in response to overwhelming demand on the route. The airline currently serves Paris with 18 weekly flights, operated with an Airbus A380 and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. It introduced the A380 on the route in December 2009.
“Our decision to commit a second A380 on the Paris route is a clear sign of potent demand from travellers who wish to fly with Emirates and enjoy our superior product offering,” said Salem Obaidalla. “This will be only the second European destination after London Heathrow where we have multiple A380 services each day and one of only a handful on our entire network.”
The A380 capacity boost on the Paris route will further stimulate trade between the UAE and France, which currently runs into billions of US dollars each year. “The Dubai-Paris route is one of our top markets worldwide and we are committed to further developing this route and our France operations to provide even more convenience to French travellers and exporters,” said Mr Obaidalla.
The airline is also bringing forward its capacity growth on the Dubai – London Heathrow route and will use the type on four of its five daily rotations from October 28, 2012 rather than February 1, 2013 as previously planned. The A380 will replace a 777-300ER on the EK007/EK008 rotation from the start of the Northern Winter schedules although the fifth and final rotation of the day, EK029/EK030, will see the arrival of the A380 from February 1, 2013.
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